Banksy's most famous, or perhaps infamous, work is now called "Love is in the Bin." Geoff Caddick/AFP

Legend has it he was born in Bristol in 1974.

He attended an educational project offering young graffiti artists the chance to practise their art without breaking the law, according to John Nation, sometimes nicknamed the "godfather" of Bristol street art.

"As a young boy, he'd come to the centre and watch people paint," he told the Huffington Post. "He was heavily into hip hop culture, graffiti."

Banksy then purportedly joined the DryBreadZ Crew (DBZ), a gang of street artists formed in the early 1990s.

Accepted

In 2001, the artist reportedly accompanied Bristol amateur football club Easton Cowboys on a tour of Mexico, playing as a goalkeeper and producing several stencilled works while there.

But Banksy appears to have never forgotten Bristol, regularly returning to erect new works.

Over the last two decades he has helped to make this city of 460,000 inhabitants on the Avon River one of the world capitals of street art, laying the ground for the 150 or so artists who work there today.

Graffiti street art is pictured on the side of a row of terraced houses in Bristol. Geoff Caddick

"Banksy has led the charge and his popularity and his rise have allowed street art to be accepted," said Jody Thomas, a local street artist.

He's like Santa Claus

Walking around the city, the unique relationship it has forged with this art form is ubiquitous.

The Bedminster neighbourhood has become an open-air museum studded with urban frescoes.

What Banksy has given to Bristol, the city has returned to him, by helping to preserve his anonymity as if there is a secret pact with its inhabitants.

"There's been occasions where his identity may have been on the verge of (coming) out and other people have had conversations or taken actions (so) that it's not happened," said Steve Hayles, of the Upfest Gallery.